WORK AND LIFE - THE END OF THE ZERO-SUM GAME

Most companies view work and personal life as competing priorities in a zero-sum game, in which a gain in one area means a loss in the other . From this traditional perspective, managers decide how their employe es' work and personal lives should intersect and often view work-life programs as just so much social welfare. A new breed of managers, howe ver, is trying a new tack, one in which managers and employees collabo rate to achieve work and personal objectives to everyone's benefit. Th ese managers are guided by three principles. The first is to clearly i nform their employees about business priorities and to encourage them to be just as clear about personal priorities. The second is to recogn ize and support their employees as whole people, not only acknowledgin g but also celebrating their roles outside the office. The third is to continually experiment with the way work gets done, looking for appro aches that enhance the organization's performance and allow employees to pursue personal goals. The managers who are acting on these princip les have discovered that conflicts between work and personal prioritie s can actually be catalysts for identifying inefficiencies at the work place. For example, one manager and his staff found a way to accommoda te the increased workload at their 24-hour-a-day command center while granting the staff more concentrated time off. So far, these managers have usually been applying the principles without official sanction. B ut as the business impact of their approach becomes better appreciated , the authors predict, more and more companies will view these leaders as heralds of change.